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of a nature to affect the public interest, and so subtle and concealed, that the common prudence and caution of mankind is not sufficient to elude the effect of it. But there being many species of fraud which could not, in strictness of law, be comprehended within this definition, it is provided by 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 29, s. 53, that if any person shall, by any false pretences, obtain from any other person any chattel, money, or valuable security, with intent to defraud any person of the same, he shall be transported for seven years, or be imprisoned, or fined, or both.

Frauds by bankrupts and insolvents.]-By 5&6 Vic. c. 122, s. 32, if a bankrupt do not duly surrender, or, upon examination (which is not now on oath, 8 & 9 Vic. c. 41), do not discover all his estate, and all books, &c., or do not duly deliver same up, or if he remove, conceal, or embezzle any part of the estate to the value of £10, or any books, &c., with intent to defraud his creditors, he is guilty of felony, and liable to transportation for life, or not less than seven years, or imprisonment for not more than seven years. So it is a misdemeanor (s. 34), if he have, after an act of bankruptcy, or in contemplation thereof, destroyed or altered his books, &c., or have obtained goods on credit, or disposed of them with intent to defraud creditors, within three months previous to bankruptcy (s. 35). As to Insolvents, it is, by 1 & 2 Vic. c. 110, s. 99, a misdemeanor, punishable with imprisonment for three years, to fraudulently omit from his schedule any effects, &c., or to retain the same. And the same is enacted by 7 & 8 Vic. c. 96, as to insolvent petitioners (b).

Monopolising.]—A monopoly is an allowance by

the king to any person of the sole buying, selling, making, working, or using of any thing, and only differs from engrossing (the statutes relative to which are repealed) in this, that the one is by patent from the king, and the other is the act of the subject. By 24 Jac. 1, c. 1, all monopolies are declared contrary to law, and void, except as to patents, not exceeding the grant of fourteen years, to the authors of new inventions, of which we have before spoken (p. 232). The offences of forestalling and regrating are abolished by the 7 & 8 Vic. c. 24.

Apprenticeships.]-By 5 Eliz. c. 4, to exercise a trade in any town, without having previously served as an apprentice for seven years, incurred a penalty of forty shillings by the month; but this restriction is now done away by 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76, s. 14.

Seducing artificers.]-Formerly, to seduce or entice any artificers to go out of Great Britain into any foreign country, or to export certain tools, &c.,. incurred a penalty; but these penalties and restrictions no longer exist (5 Geo. 4, c. 97; 6 & 7 Vic. c. 84.)

CHAP. XLIV.

OFFENCES AGAINST THE PUBLIC HEALTH, POLICE, OR ECONOMY.

[See 4 Black. Com. chap. 13; 4 Steph. Com. chap. 12.]

Quarantine.]-The 1 Jac. 1, c. 31, as to persons infected with the plague, or dwelling in any infected house, is repealed by 1 Vic. c. 91, s. 4. By 6 Geo. 4, c. 78, persons arriving from infected places, and not performing quarantine in the manner described by these acts, or escaping from quarantine, are liable to punishment by fine and imprisonment, and the officer of the customs deserting his duty, or permitting unauthorised departure, is subject to transportation or imprisonment.

Clandestine marriage.]—By 4 Geo. 4, c. 76, s. 21, to solemnize marriage in any other place besides a church, or without due publication of banns, or license, or under pretence of being in holy orders, subjects the persons solemnising it to transportation for seven years, or imprisonment for two years. However, as we have seen (p. 119), by the 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 85, amended by 3 & 4 Vic. c. 72, marriages may take place in certified registered dissent

ing chapels, and even at the office and in the presence of the superintendent registrar, or district registrar, of marriages. Unduly solemnising marriages, or issuing any false certificates or licenses, is punishable as above stated.

By 4 Geo. 4, c. 76, s. 29, to insert in any register any false entry of any matter or thing relating to any marriage, or to make, alter, forge, or counterfeit any such entry in such register, or any such marriage license, or to destroy any register book of marriage, subjects the party to transportation for life.

Bigamy.]-Polygamy, or, as it is corruptly called, bigamy, is another felonious offence with regard to matrimony. By 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 22, if any person, being married, do marry any other person, the for'mer husband or wife being alive, he or she shall be guilty of felony, and be liable to transportation for seven years, or imprisonment for two years. But it is provided, that this penalty shall not extend to the following cases:-1, Where the second marriage is not by a subject, and is performed out of England; 2, Where the husband or wife shall absent him or herself the one from the other by the space of seven years together, the one of them not knowing the other to be living within that time; 3, Where the party shall, at the time of the second marriage, have been delivered from the bond of the first marriage; 4, Where, at the time of such marriage, the former marriage shall have been declared null and void by the competent court.

Common nuisances.]-A common nuisance may be defined to be an offence against the public, either by doing a thing which tends to the annoyance of all the king's subjects, or by neglecting to do a

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thing which the common good requires. All annoyances in highways, bridges, and public rivers, either by obstruction or for want of repair, are nuisances. So is the carrying on of offensive or dangerous trades or manufactures. All disorderly inns,ale houses, bawdy houses, gaming houses, stage plays unlicensed, and booths for rope dancers, are nuisances. Eaves-droppers and common scolds are public nuisances. By the 9 & 10 Vic. c. 96, power is given to town councils of boroughs, or paving, &C., commissioners, or guardians of the poor, to lay a complaint before two justices of the peace of the filthy or unwholesome condition of any dwelling-house or other building, or of the accumulation of any offensive or noxious matter, or of the existence of any foul drain, &c.; whereupon the justice may make an order for the cleansing, &c., or for the removal of the nuisance.

Vagrants.]-By 5 Geo. 4, c. 83 (amended by 1 & 2 Vic. c. 38), vagrants are divided into three classes-1st, Idle and disorderly persons, who are punishable with one month's imprisonment in the house of correction, with hard labour; 2dly, Rogues and vagabonds, who are punishable with imprisonment, not exceeding six months, with hard labour; 3dly, Incorrigible rogues, who may be committed to the next session, and kept to hard labour in the mean time. The sessions may imprison him, with hard labour, for one year, with whipping.

Gaming.]—Gaming is not restrained by the common law, unless it is so practised as to become injurious to the public economy; but the legislature has, in many instances, laid it under particular restraints. A wager or bet is a contract entered into, without colour or fraud, between two or more persons, for a good consideration, and upon mutual